Climate
Closing time: Climate diplomats decide wording and the world
Thump, thump, thump. In the frantic last hours of U.N. climate talks in Scotland, a senior diplomat from Luxembourg came sprinting down a hallway inside the summit venue, his hair flying as he whooshed by clutching a sheaf of papers, only to vanish inside an office as abruptly as he appeared.
The final stretch of negotiations over what nearly 200 governments will do next about fossil fuels heating the Earth to disastrous levels was like that Friday: National delegations engaged in frenetic, often mysterious activity as they haggled to get as much of their position as possible into the final agreement from the talks in Glasgow.
U.S. diplomats mostly worked behind closed doors, with terse signs on the glass. The open doors of most other country's offices – South Korea, Ivory Coast, Austria, and others – showed rooms full of diplomats bent intently over their laptops, eyes fixed on screens and fingers flying over keyboards.
Chinese diplomats crowded into one of their offices stopped working, laughed and took photos when a wayward robin hopped in among them, lost in the warren of temporary tents and the event center.
In the office of India's delegation, there was muted excitement. Delegates sat cross legged on the floor, typing furiously on their laptops. A vase in the office held fresh pink lilies. Endless cups of chai flowed in preparation for what would be a long night.
UN chief says global warming goal on 'life support'
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) is “on life support” with climate talks in Glasgow so far not reaching any of the U.N.’s three goals, but he added that “until the last moment, hope should be maintained.”
In an exclusive interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Guterres said the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland “are in a crucial moment” and need to accomplish more than securing a weak deal that participating nations agree to support.
Read: Climate talks draft agreement expresses ‘alarm and concern’
“The worst thing would be to reach an agreement at all costs by a minimum common denominator that would not respond to the huge challenges we face,” Guterres said.
That’s because the overarching goal of limiting warming since pre-industrial times to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) by the end of the century “is still on reach but on life support,” Guterres said. The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit), leaving less than a degree before the threshold is hit.
Read: US envoy calls for joint action to tackle climate crisis right now
“It is the moment to reach agreement by increasing ambition in all areas: mitigation, adaptation and finance in a balanced way,” Guterres said in the 25-minute AP interview.
A U.S.-China agreement announced Wednesday provided some hope of the negotiations yielding significant progress.
Developed countries must fulfill climate pledges: Info Mins
Information and Broadcasting Minister Hassan Mahmud has said that the procrastination of developed countries to provide funds to mitigate climate change damages is not acceptable.
Hasan Mahmud said that donors are not coming forward to help Bangladesh with funds to boost its capacity to tackle climate crisis.
Read: COP26: Time running out in Glasgow, as delegates wrangle over details
The minister made this remark at a COP26 side event titled ‘Transparency Mechanism under Paris Agreement: issues, concern and opportunity for effective implementation in Bangladesh’ organised by Center for Climate Change & Environmental Research (C3ER) BRAC University at Bangladesh Pavilion in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Wednesday evening.
‘Bangladesh has the capacity to deal with the damage caused by climate change and the government has shown its capability to take effective adaptation activities’, he added.
He said that Bangladesh is an innocent victim of climate damage caused mainly by developed countries. But they are not taking any reponsibilityfor this.
Yet Bangladesh did not surrender to the effects of climate change. On the contrary, it is working with its own funds at the directive or Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the minister added.
He said that various initiatives have been taken by the government to produce climate tolerant rice. Especially crops tolerant of drought, flood and salinity.
He also said the developed countries should provide necessary financial and technical assistance to the affected countries to address climate risk.
Tanvir Shakil Joy Member of Parliament, said adaptation is most important for Bangladesh. Climate projects should be developed based on indigenous and traditional knowledge through consultation and participation of local communities.
ICCAD Director Dr Saleemul Huq said the biggest failure of the COP is to meet 100 billion dollar climate fund pledge. The second failure is that there is very little funding for climate finance adaptation.
Read:Prepare road map to raise green energy use to 40% by 2041: Info Minister
Gerry Fox, Team Leader, PROKAS, British Council "stated that local adaption will be key to the future in combating climate change. In Bangladesh we are developing a climate finance ecosystem which brings together lead organizations working at local, national and global, creating a virtuous circle to strengthen adaption solutions that respond to community needs, and develop a system that provides the necessary MRV to encourage increased global funds.)
Climate experts Dr. Salimul Haque and Dr. Atik Rahman spokev at the event which was presided over by water and climate expert Dr. Ainun Nishat.
Climate talks draft agreement expresses ‘alarm and concern’
Governments are poised to express “alarm and concern” about how much Earth has already warmed and encourage one another to end their use of coal, according to a draft released Wednesday of the final document expected at U.N. climate talks.
The early version of the document circulating at the negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, also impresses on countries the need to cut carbon dioxide emissions by about half by 2030 — even though pledges so far from governments don’t add up to that frequently stated goal.
In a significant move, countries would urge one another to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels” in the draft, though it has no explicit reference to ending the use of oil and gas. There has been a big push among developed nations to shut down coal-fired power plants, which are a major source of heat-trapping gases, but the fuel remains a critical and cheap source of electricity for countries like China and India.
While the language about moving away from coal is a first and important, the lack of a date when countries will do so limits the pledge’s effectiveness, said Greenpeace International Director Jennifer Morgan, a long-time climate talks observer.
“This isn’t the plan to solve the climate emergency. This won’t give the kids on the streets the confidence that they’ll need,” Morgan said.
Read: US envoy calls for joint action to tackle climate crisis right now
The draft doesn’t yet include full agreements on the three major goals that the U.N. set going into the negotiations — and may disappoint poorer nations because of a lack of solid financial commitments from richer ones. The goals are: for rich nations to give poorer ones $100 billion a year in climate aid, to ensure that half of that money goes to adapting to worsening global warming, and the pledge to slash emissions that is mentioned.
The draft does provide insight, however, into the issues that need to be resolved in the last few days of the conference, which is scheduled to end Friday but may push past that deadline. Still, a lot of negotiating and decision-making is yet to come since whatever emerges from the meetings has to be unanimously approved by the nearly 200 nations attending.
The draft says the world should try to achieve “net-zero (emissions) around mid-century.” That means requiring countries to pump only as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as can be absorbed again through natural or artificial means.
It also acknowledges “with regret” that rich nations have failed to live up to the climate aid pledge.
Poorer nations, which need financial help both in developing green energy systems and adapting to the worst of climate change, are angry that the promised aid hasn’t materialized.
Read: US envoy calls for joint action to tackle climate crisis right now
“Without financial support little can be done to minimize its debilitating effects for vulnerable communities around the world,” Mohammed Nasheed, the Maldives’ parliamentary speaker and the ambassador for a group of dozens of countries most vulnerable to climate change, said in a statement.
He said the draft fails on key issues, including the financial aid and strong emission cuts.
“There’s much more that needs to be done on climate finance to give developing countries what they need coming out of here,” said Alden Meyer, a long-time conference observer, of the European think-tank E3G.
The document reaffirms the goals set in Paris in 2015 of limiting warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, with a more stringent target of trying to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) preferred because that would keep damage from climate change “much lower.”
Highlighting the challenge of meeting those goals, the document “expresses alarm and concern that human activities have caused around 1.1 C (2 F) of global warming to date and that impacts are already being felt in every region.”
Small island nations, which are particularly vulnerable to warming, worry that too little is being done to stop warming at the 1.5-degree goal — and that allowing temperature increases up to 2 degrees would be catastrophic for their countries.
“For Pacific (small island states), climate change is the greatest, single greatest threat to our livelihood, security and wellbeing. We do not need more scientific evidence nor targets without plans to reach them or talking shops,” Bruce Bilimon, the Marshall Islands’ health and human services minister, told fellow negotiators Wednesday. “The 1.5 limit is not negotiable.”
Separate draft proposals were also released on other issues being debated at the talks, including rules for international carbon markets and the frequency by which countries have to report on their efforts.
The draft calls on nations that don’t have national goals that would fit with the 1.5- or 2-degree limits to come back with stronger targets next year. Depending on how the language is interpreted, the provision could apply to most countries. Analysts at the World Resources Institute counted that element as a win for vulnerable countries.
“This is crucial language,” WRI International Climate Initiative Director David Waskow said Wednesday. “Countries really are expected and are on the hook to do something in that timeframe to adjust.’’
Greenpeace’s Morgan said it would have been even better to set a requirement for new goals every year.
In a nod to one of the big issues for poorer countries, the draft vaguely “urges” developed nations to compensate developing countries for “loss and damage,” a phrase that some rich nations don’t like. But there are no concrete financial commitments.
“This is often the most difficult moment,” Achim Steiner, the head of the U.N. Development Program and former chief of the U.N.’s environment office, said of the state of the two-week talks.
“The first week is over, you suddenly recognize that there are a number of fundamentally different issues that are not easily resolvable. The clock is ticking,” he told The Associated Press.
Climate talks draft agreement expresses 'alarm and concern'
Negotiators at the United Nations climate talks are considering a draft decision that highlights “alarm and concern” about global warming the planet already is experiencing and continues to call on the world to cut about half of its emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2030.
The early version of the cover decision released Wednesday at the climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, doesn’t provide specific agreements on the three major goals that the U.N. set going into the negotiations.
The draft mentions the need to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2010 levels and achieve “net-zero” by mid-century. Doing so requires countries to pump only as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as can be absorbed again through natural or artificial means.
Read: US envoy calls for joint action to tackle climate crisis right now
It urges countries to “accelerate the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels,” but makes no explicit reference to ending the use of oil and gas.
The draft also acknowledges “with regret” that rich nations have failed to live up to their pledge of providing $100 billion a year in financial help by 2020 to help poor nations dead with global warming.
The draft reaffirms the goals set in Paris in 2015 of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, with a more stringent target of trying to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) preferred.
Highlighting the challenge of meeting those goals, the document “expresses alarm and concern that human activities have caused around 1.1 C (2 F) of global warming to date and that impacts are already being felt in every region.”
Separate draft proposals were also released on other issues being debated at the talks, including rules for international carbon markets and the frequency by which countries have to report on their efforts.
The draft calls on nations that don’t have national goals that would fit with the 1.5 or 2 degree temperature rise limits to come back with stronger targets next year. Depending on the language is interpreted, the provision could apply to most countries. Analysts at the World Resources Institute counted this element of the draft as a win for vulnerable countries.“This is crucial language,’’ WRI International Climate Initiative Director David Waskow said Wednesday. “Countries really are expected and are on the hook to do something in that timeframe to adjust.’’
Read: Obama appeals to young activists to stay in climate fight
In a nod to one of the big issues for poorer countries, the draft vaguely “urges” developed nations to compensate developing countries for “loss and damage,” a phrase that some rich nations don’t like.
Whatever comes out of the meeting in Glasgow has to be unanimously approved by nearly 200 nations attending the negotiations.
A lot of negotiating and decision-making is to come in the next three or possibly four days. The deadline for the talks is Friday, but climate talks often go past planned end dates. The cover decisions provide more than anything the parameters for the issues that need to be resolved in the last few days of the annual U.N. conference, Waskow said.
US envoy calls for joint action to tackle climate crisis right now
US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller has said that the world must put in joint efforts to confront the climate crisis right now instead of leaving the challenge for future generations.
“The climate crisis is here. This is not a challenge for future generations. Together, we must confront it today," he said mentioning that COP26 in Glasgow is a pivotal moment at the start of this decisive decade to tackle the climate crisis.
While COP26 continues in Glasgow, Scotland, Miller visited U.S. government climate resilience projects in Cox’s Bazar and travelled to St. Martin’s Island to assess the effects of climate change and learn about local adaptation efforts.
Also read: COP26: Bangladesh announces 37bn-dollar budget to tackle climate change damages
Miller learned about severe coastal erosion and sea level rise on the island, the impact on local fisheries, the degradation of coral colonies, and local efforts to restore mangroves and protect shorelines.
Glasgow climate negotiators seek to resolve 4 key challenges
As this year’s U.N. climate talks go into their second week, negotiations on key topics are inching forward. Boosted by a few high-profile announcements at the start of the meeting, delegates are upbeat about the prospects for tangible progress in the fight against global warming.
Laurent Fabius, the former French foreign minister who helped forge the Paris climate accord, said the general atmosphere had improved since the talks began Oct. 31 and “most negotiators want an agreement.”
But negotiators were still struggling late Saturday to put together a series of draft decisions for government ministers to finalize during the second week of the talks.
“People are having to take tough decisions, as they should,” Archie Young, the U.K.’s lead negotiator, said Saturday.
Also read: Greta Thunberg calls UN climate talks a failure
Here’s the state of play in four main areas halfway through the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow:
TOP RESULT FROM THE CONFERENCE
Each Conference of the Parties, or COP, ends with a general statement. It’s as much a political declaration as a statement of intent about where countries agree the effort to combat climate change is heading.
A flurry of announcements at the start of the COP26 talks in Glasgow on issues including ending deforestation, cutting methane emissions, providing more money for green investments and phasing out the use of coal could be reflected in this final declaration. Even though only some countries signed on to each of those deals, others would be encouraged to add their signatures at a later date.
Affirming the goal of keeping global warming at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, compared to pre-industrial times, is also seen as important. With greenhouse gas emissions continuing to rise, host Britain has said it wants the Glasgow talks to “keep 1.5 C alive.” One way to achieve that would be to encourage rich polluters in particular to update their emissions-cutting targets every one or two years, rather than every five years as now required by the Paris accord.
Also read: COP26: Bangladesh announces 37bn-dollar budget to tackle climate change damages
MONEY MATTERS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE
Rich countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion each year by 2020 to help poor nations cope with climate change. That target was likely missed, much to the frustration of developing nations.
Restoring goodwill and trust between rich and poor countries on this issue requires a clear commitment on raising financial support starting from 2025. Addressing the thorny question of who is to pay for the losses and damages that nations face as a result of global warming they aren’t responsible for is likewise important, but agreement there could be elusive, observers say.
“It’s about finance, finance, finance, finance,” said Fabius.
CARBON TRADING: A TRICKY NUT TO CRACK
Many negotiators and observers at climate conferences roll their eyes when they hear the words “Article 6.”
The section dealing with rules for carbon markets has become one of the trickiest parts of the Paris climate accord to finalize. Six years after that deal was sealed, countries appear to be making headway though and there’s even talk of a breakthrough on the issue that so frustrated negotiators in Madrid two years ago.
Observers say Brazil and India may be willing to drop demands to count their old — but others say worthless — carbon credits amassed under previous agreements. The price for this might be that rich nations grant poor countries a share of proceeds from carbon market transactions to adapt to climate change. This has been a red line for the United States and the European Union until now.
A deal on Article 6 is seen as crucial because many countries and companies aim to cut their emissions to “net zero” by 2050. This requires balancing out any remaining pollution with an equal amount of carbon they can reliably say is captured elsewhere, such as through forests or by technological means.
TRANSPARENCY AND RIGOR IN NATIONAL EMISSIONS-CUTTING TARGETS
The Paris Agreement lets governments set their own emissions-cutting targets, and many of them are in the distant future.
Verifying that countries are doing what they committed to, and that their goals are backed up by realistic measures, is tricky. China in particular has bristled at the idea of having to provide data in formats set by other nations. Brazil and Russia, meanwhile, have resisted demands to lay out in greater detail the short-term measures they’re taking to meet their long-term goals.
COP26: Bangladesh announces 37bn-dollar budget to tackle climate change damages
Bangladesh has adopted a 37bn-dollar programme for mitigation of climate change damages along the country’s coastal areas, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Enamur Rahman has said here.
He said this at a COP26 side event organized by the ministry in Glasgow on Thursday afternoon.
Climate change-related incidents displace about 50,000 people every year in Bangladesh, the minister added.
In his speech at the event Enamur said Bangladesh is widely considered as one of the most vulnerable countries to global climate change.
He said inIn 2020 alone 30.7 million people were displaced due to natural disasters.
In 2017 Bangladesh was the 6th most stricken country among 135 countries that experienced displacement due to floods, he said.
Read: Dhaka optimistic about climate cash flow
The World Bank’s Groundswell report also estimated that by 2050 19 million people of Bangladesh will be migrating internally due to slow onset climate change processes such as water scarcity, declining crop productivity and sea level rise.
The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) recognizes that displacement has grave implications for the rights and entitlements of the individuals and communities.
Bangladesh has framed its National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management in January 2021.
“I am confident that COP 26 will be able to develop a mechanism for institutionalizing loss and damage,” he said.
Read: Effective climate plans not possible without funds: Hasina
“I am also hopeful that this year's COP will be able to introduce concessional instruments in case of climate finance,” he added.
Natural disasters are increasing in Bangladesh due to climate change, Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Mohammad Mohsin separately told the UNB correspondent covering the event.
He said Bangladesh highlighted the need for international funds to deal with the damages and loss caused by climate change.
Dhaka optimistic about climate cash flow
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday expressed optimism about adequate flow of funds to address climate change- related challenges, noting that Bangladesh has taken a very strong leadership role in COP26.
"We've got a lot of good assurance from the private sector and the governments. We're hopeful," Dr Momen told reporters at a virtual briefing joining from London.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem were present.
The COP26 summit, hosted by the UK in Glasgow, has brought parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh needs to work a lot, especially in preparing good proposals, which he sees as a challenge but achievable.
"We've a long way to go. We've a challenge but we can manage to get plenty of funds," he said, adding that there is willingness to provide funds.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been identified as one of the five influential dealmakers at COP26 being held at Glasgow, according to a BBC report that described Hasina as “voice of the vulnerable”.
Read: Effective climate plans not possible without funds: Hasina
COP26: Women leaders for improving women’s participation in climate actions
The global women leaders at a high-level event here on Tuesday adopted a declaration with a call to improve women's participation and leadership in all climate actions as well as to connect the fight against gender inequality closely with the fight against climate change.
The declaration was adopted at the High-level Panel on Women and Climate Change, held on the sideline of the COP26 World Leaders' Summit at Scottish Pavilion in Glasgow. The Scottish authority and the UN Women hosted the event to discuss the importance of women's leadership in addressing climate change and its gendered impacts.
In the declaration titled “Glasgow Women’s Leadership on Gender Equality and Climate Change,” they said Climate change is an urgent human rights issue posing a serious risk to the fundamental rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation, decent work and an adequate standard of living of individuals and communities across the world. Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities, including gender inequality, they added.
The women leaders said, “We believe that the fight against climate change must be closely connected to the fight against gender inequality, and agree that ensuring women's and girls' leadership is vital if global efforts to tackle climate change are to succeed.”
They said women and girls are commonly disproportionately affected by climate change and face greater risks and burdens from its impacts, particularly in situations of poverty.
“Despite increased vulnerability to climate impacts, we recognize that women and girls have been creating and leading innovative climate solutions at all levels. One of the great injustices of the climate crisis is that the people and countries who are worst affected are those who have contributed at least to its causes,” they added.
Read: BGMEA showcases RMG industry’s strides in sustainability in COP26
“We therefore call for all climate actions to recognize the differentiated impact of climate change by factors such as age, gender, disability and location, and ensure women's and girls' voice and agency and their full and effective participation and leadership in policy and decision. - making at community, national and international levels, and increase ambition in all sectors,” the leaders said.
Expressing their gratefulness to those who have led efforts to date at government, intergovernmental, private sector and civil society levels to advance the interests of women and girls in climate action, they said, “We particularly acknowledge women leaders, especially young women and girls at all levels who have championed this agenda, and commit to pushing forward their work including through increased financing, broadening partnerships, and advocacy.”
The women leaders welcomed the dedicated agenda item under the UNFCCC addressing issues of gender and climate change and the 5-year enhanced Lima work program on gender and its gender action plan agreed at COP 25. “We hope to see strong efforts by all stakeholders to implement the activities included in the GAP,” they said.
They acknowledged parallel efforts to promote gender equality in climate change policies, programs and initiatives, including the UN Secretary General's initiative on Gender and Climate Change, launched at the Global Climate Action Summit 2019, and the Feminist Action for Climate Justice action coalition under the Generation Equality Forum.
“We encourage all countries yet to pledge action under these important initiatives to do so before the sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) in March 2022. At CSW 66, we will work towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs,” they added.
Read: At COP26, over 100 countries pledge to end deforestation
The leaders agreed on the importance of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, notably Sustainable Development Goal 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. “We agree that concrete actions are needed to improve women's and girls' participation and leadership in all climate actions,” they said.
The women leaders called all leaders - women and men - both in government and civil society - to commit to increased and sustained support for women and girls' climate change initiatives at the national and global levels in order to achieve sustainable progress towards meeting the challenges of the climate crisis.
The statement will remain open to further signatures from women leaders from across government, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, business and civil society till the 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2022.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu and Iceland Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, among others, were present at the event.